As of May 22, 2025
ALIX DOBKIN
Singer-songwriter, fierce advocate of lesbians/explicit lesbian content in music, Lavender Jane band with Kay Gardner, first album with lesbian-feminist lyrics, owner of Women’s Wax Works
Died May 2021 in Woodstock, New York (brain aneurysm/stroke)
AMOJA THREE RIVERS (Carol Allen Hall)
Co-creator of Cultural Etiquette book, major force with Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival Women of Color Tent and Sanctuary, craftswoman, and healer
Died December 2015 in St. Paul, Minnesota (brain hemorrhage)
ANN MORRIS
Co-founder HOT WIRE magazine and women’s music conferences at National Women’s Music Festival, Artemis Singers lesbian chorus
Died March 2020 in Chicago, Illinois (cancer)
ANTONIA BRICO
Internationally known symphonic conductor, led 1978 NWMF all-female orchestra
Died August 1989 in Denver, Colorado (natural causes at age 87)
ARDEN EVERSMEYER (Jean)
Founder Old Lesbians Oral Herstory Project, leader Old Lesbians Organizing For Change
Died November 2022 in Houston, Texas (natural causes at age 91)
ARDIS SPERBER
Agent/manager, Lynn Lavner’s life partner
Died February 2025 in Palm Beach County, FL (natural causes after long illness)
AUDRE LORDE
Writer, lecturer, poet, educator, lesbian-feminist/racial activist
Died November 1992 in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands (breast cancer)
BARBARA HAMMER
Lesbian-feminist experimental filmmaker
Died March 2019 in Manhattan, New York (ovarian cancer)
BARBARA DANE
Folk-blues-jazz singer, early women’s music presence, fierce civil rights and antiwar activist
Died October 2024 in Oakland, California (heart failure at age 97)
BERNICE JOHNSON REAGON
Sweet Honey in the Rock founder, professor, historian, activist
Died 2024 in Washington, DC (undisclosed causes)
BETTY MacDONALD
Jazz musician, jazz-women advocate, radio host, Living With Lesbians album
Died August 2010 in Woodstock, New York (liver disease)
BEVERLY McCLELLAN
First out lesbian vocalist on The Voice television show
Died October 2018 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (cancer)
BONNIE KOVALEFF BLACKFOOT
Trumpet player, Baba Yaga & early Olivia Records
Died December 1997 in Portland, Oregon (AIDS/Hepatitus C)
BRENDA HENSON
Gulf Coast Festival producer, Camp Sister Spirit, lesbian-feminist-economic activist
Died February 2008 in Dumas, Arkansas (colon cancer)
CAROL MacDONALD
Musician, arranger, bandleader, Isis & Goldie and the Gingerbreads
Died March 2007 in Wilmington, Delaware (liver disease)
CAROLYN WHITEHORN
Sculptor, artist, long-time festival craftswoman
Died October 2023 in Willits, California (natural causes at age 87)
CASSE CULVER
Early women’s music lesbian singer-songwriter, 3 Gypsies, Songs and Other Dreams
Died December 2019 in Milton, Delaware (cancer)
CATHERINE BYRD
Violin in National Women’s Music Festival Orchestra, Nan Washburn’s life partner
Died April 2025 in Ann Arbor, Michigan (sepsis and multiple myeloma)
CHRISTINE HAVRILLA
“NeoFunkadelicFolkPopTwangRock” singer-songwriter, annual Sirens of Spring show
Died May 2025 in Melton, Delaware (cancer)
CONNI JOHNSON
ASL interpreter
Died May 2025 in Arizona (complications after brain injury)
CONNIE GILBERT-NEISS
Campfest, journalist
Died September 2016 in Key West, Florida (stroke)
CONSTANCE ROBINSON
Pioneering black female sound tech, several women’s festivals
Died August 2018 in Cambridge, Massachusetts (cancer)
DEBRA “KENYA” McGEE
Percussionist, educator – Edwina Lee Tyler and a Piece of the World, Women of the Calabash, Casselberry-DuPrée, JUCA
Died November 2020 in Swartz Creek, Michigan (COVID-19)
DIANE GERMAIN
HOT WIRE cartoonist/writer, lesbian archivist, artist
Died March 2024 in San Diego, California (complications after thoracic surgery, medical assist)
DIANE GOMEZ
Long-time stage security at Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, poet
Died May 2023 in Chicago, Illinois (cancer)
EDWINA LEE TYLER
Pioneering woman drum master, performer, teacher, dancer
Died summer 2024 in New York City (undisclosed causes)
ELANA DYKEWOMON (Elana Michelle Nachman)
National Women’s Music Festival Readers & Writers, author, playwright
Died August 2022 in Oakland, California (esophageal cancer)
GINNI CLEMMENS
Musician (banjo/guitar), singer-songwriter, Open Door Records, “Gay and Straight Together” LP
Died February 2004 in Maui, Hawaii (car accident)
ERIKA LOCKETT
Musician, singer, composer, Wild Mango, Ferraro & Luckett
Died October 2018 in San Francisco Bay Area (ovarian cancer)
ELIZABETH KARLIN
Concert producer, doctor, pro-choice activist
Died July 1998 in Madison, Wisconsin (brain cancer)
FAITH ANN NELSON
Gay Big Apple Corps Band, music critic
Died October 2021 in Asbury Park, New Jersey (cause?)
FATU HENDERSON (Judy)
Percussionist, teacher, dancer
Died March 2022 in Denver, Colorado (possible complications from strokes)
FLASH SILVERMOON (Deborah Kotlar)
Musician, fest producer, radio host, Moonhaven Mystery School of Earth Magic
Died December 2017 in Melbourne, Florida (renal failure)
FRANCES WASSERLEIN
Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival staff, exec director Vancouver Folk Music Festival
Died August 2015 in Halfmoon Bay, BC, Canada (complications from Alzheimers)
GWEN AVERY
“Sugar Mama” singer-songwriter, Varied Voices of Black Women tour
Died January 2015 in Santa Rosa, California (complications from gall bladder surgery)
IRENE CARA
Grammy/Golden Globe/Oscar-winning singer, songwriter, actor – significant financial supporter of National Women’s Music Festival
Died November 2022 in Largo, Florida (hypertensive cardiovascular disease)
IVY BOTTINI
National Women’s Music Festival theatre strand, author, activist
Died February 2021 in Sebring, Florida (natural causes at age 94)
JADE RIVER
National Women’s Music Festival spirituality coordinator, co-creator of Kissing Girls Productions, Re-formed Congregration of the Goddess, Of a Like Mind, MichFest shuttle coordinator, singer
Died July 2020 in Madison, Wisconsin (cancer)
JEANNE LAMON
First National Women’s Music Festival concert maestra, Tafelmusik ensemble
Died June 2021 in Victoria, BC, Canada (lung cancer)
JERENE O’BRIEN JACKSON
Guitar player, BeBe K’Roche & early Olivia Records, big band leader
Died July 2003 in Los Angeles (cause of death?)
JESS HAWK OAKENSTAR
New Zealand lesbian-feminist folksinger, “Together Proud & Strong” March on Washington anthem
Died April 2022 in Arizona (cancer)
JEWLIA EISENBERG
Jewish lesbian vocalist, composer, Charming Hostess, “nerdy-sexy-commie-girly”
Died March 2021 in Oakland, California (autoimmune disease GATA2 deficiency)
JILL SOBULE
First lesbian/gay song to crack Billboard top 20 – “I Kissed a Girl” (1995)
Died May 2025 in Woodbury, Minnesota (house fire)
JOAN GIBSON
Early women’s music financial supporter and promoter
Died October 1996 in Lincoln, Nebraska (heart attack)
JOAN LOWE
Early Olivia recording engineer
Died February 2019 in Eugene, Oregon (cancer)
JO-LYNNE WORLEY
Redwood Records, artist management
Died February 2022 in Kansas City, Missouri (infection)
JOY DUSKIN
ASL sign language interpreter, fabric artist, painter
Died November 2016 in Rochester, New York (cause of death?)
JOY ROSENBLATT
Mountain Moving Coffeehouse concert producer, HOT WIRE staffer
Died April 2004 in Chicago, Illinois (probable stroke)
JUDY MAREINNISS
Sound engineer, producer, musician
Died May 2020 in Syracuse, New York (COVID-19)
JUNE JORDAN
Poet, performer, educator, journalist, feminist/civil rights activist
Died June 2002 in Berkeley, California (breast cancer)
KAREN KANE
Sound/recording engineer, record producer, technical teacher
Died March 2024 in Cassopolis, Michigan (liver failure, Lewy Body dementia)
KARLENE FAITH
Professor, writer, Santa Cruz Women’s Prison Project
Died May 2017 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (aortic aneurysm)
KAY GARDNER
Musician, composer, writer, choral director, conductor, priestess, record label owner, HOT WIRE staff writer
Died August 2003 in Bangor, Maine (heart attack)
KRIS KOVICK
HOT WIRE cartoonist, writer, performer, first woman in printing trade union in Pacific NW
Died October 2001 in San Francisco, California (breast cancer)
LAURA NYRO (Laura Nigro)
Musician, singer-songwriter, 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee
Died April 1997 in Danbury, Connecticut (ovarian cancer)
LAURIE BENZ
Singer-songwriter, photographer, pioneering activist for lesbian/gay little people
Died January 2015 in Chicago, Illinois (complications from strokes)
LEAH KUNKEL (Leah Rachel Cohen)
Singer, songwriter, musician with June Millington, Carly Simon, and the Coyote Sisters
Died November 2024 in Northampton, Massachusetts (heart cancer)
LEE GLANTON
Producer of Campfest and Womongathering, philanthropist, activist
Died February 2024 in Pitman, New Jersey (cause of death?)
LORI TWERSKY
Music journalist, editor of Bitch Rock Mag With Bite
Died November 1991 in Santa Clara, California (lupus)
MADELINE DAVIS
Early lesbian folksinger, professor, archivist, co-founder Hag Theatre
Died April 2021 in Amherst, New York (stroke)
MALVINA REYNOLDS
Singer-songwriter, feminist/anti-racist/progressive activist
Died March 1978 in Berkeley, California (pancreatic cancer)
MARCIA DIEHL
Musician, New Harmony Sisterhood Band, LGBT theater supporter
Died March 2015 in Cambridge, Massachusetts (hit by truck while riding bike)
MARGARET SLOAN-HUNTER
Writer, lecturer, activist, early Ms. Magazine editor
Died September 2004 in Oakland, California (prolonged illnesses)
MARILYN RUTH RIES
Recording engineer, record producer, co-founder Wise Women Enterprises label
Died March 2017 in Buchanan, Georgia (aneurysm)
MARY PAT HUGHES
2 Funkin’ Heavy sax player and overall wild woman
Died June 1999 in Baltimore, Maryland (leukemia)
MAXINE FELDMAN
Singer-songwriter: “Amazon,” first lesbian 45rpm, festival emcee, proud butch
Died August 2007 in Albuquerque, New Mexico (lung and heart ailments)
MICHAELINE CHVATAL
Artemis Singers, HOT WIRE staffer, Queens Rule poker deck
Died February 2008 in Chicago, Illinois (breast cancer)
MICHFEST NIGHTSTAGE STAGE-RIGHT MAPLE TREE
Felled by a storm in 2006 on the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival land
MIDA BALLARD (Margaret)
Women With Wings singing circle
Died July 2020 in Bar Harbor, Maine (sleep apnea/Lyme disease)
NIKKI GIOVANNI (Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr.)
Performance poet, activist, professor. Micronycteris giovanniae bat was named in her honor in 2007
Died December 2024 in Blacksburg, Virginia (cancer)
NONHLANHLA WANDA
South African singer, dancer, co-founder of anti-apartheid Peace Train
Died January 2023 in South Africa (cancer)
PAM BRANDT
Musician Deadly Nightshade, Cactus Rose band, writer
Died July 2015 in Miami, Florida (heart attack)
PAT PARKER
Poet, spoken word performer, Varied Voices of Black Women tour, HOT WIRE writer
Died June 1989 in Oakland, California (breast cancer)
PAULA WALOWITZ
Singer-songwriter, “She’s Been Waiting” goddess chant, Surrender Dorothy band, HOT WIRE writer
Died May 2018 in Chicago (cancer)
PEGGY MITCHELL
BeBe K’Roche co-founder, bass player
Died April 2009 in California (probable complications from diabetes)
ROBIN B FRE
Quilter, artist, writer, Sea Gnomes Home manager ,Kay Gardner’s business and life partner
Died May 2024 in Highland, New York (complications from multiple sclerosis)
RONNIE GILBERT (Ruth Alice)
Singer, actor, writer, Broadway actor, Holly Near musical partner, lifelong social-justice activist
Died June 2015 in Mill Valley, California (natural causes at age 88)
ROSETTA REITZ
Founder/producer Rosetta Records, women’s jazz/blues herstorian, HOT WIRE writer
Died November 2008 in Manhattan, New York (cardiopulmonary issues)
RUSTY GORDON
Concert producer, music publisher, archivist, LGBT-feminist activist
Died October 2009 in West Palm Beach, Florida (progressive supranuclear palsy)
RUTH ELLIS
Oldest lesbian attending festivals at age 99, “Ruth Ellis at 100” film by Yvonne Welbon
Died October 2000 in Detroit, Michigan (natural causes at age 101)
RUTH ROWAN
ASL sign language interpreter, National Women’s Music Festival board
Died July 2015 while in Brazil (pancreatic cancer)
RUTH SIMKIN – “DR. RUTH”
Author, sound tech, lesbian hagaddah “Like an Orange on a Seder Plate,” fest financial supporter Died May 2022 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (cause?)
SALLY SHEKLOW
Lesbian theater – “The Sound of Lesbians”
Died February 2022 in Eugene, Oregon (cancer)
SAVANNA OULETTE (Pat)
New Haven Women’s Liberation Rock Band, New Harmony Sister Band, One Journey
Died July 2023 in Amherst, Massachusetts (cancer)
SLIQUE CALLAHAN
Lesbian comic, “Swan Dyke Lake,” solo show “Dykomeny,” The Sliquettes group
Died May 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona (natural causes)
SHAWNA CAROL
Singer-songwriter, Ladyslipper recording artist, “Goddess Chant” theater piece
Died 2019 in Hawaii of Parkinson’s
SHIRLEY CHILDRESS JOHNSON SAXTON
ASL sign language interpreter, Sweet Honey in the Rock and countless festivals
Died March 2017 in Washington, DC (West Nile Virus)
SORREL HAYS
Composer, pianist, filmmaker, artist, advocate for female inclusion in professional organizations, spouse of recording engineer Marilyn Ries
Died 2020 in Buchanan, Georgia (cancer)
SUE FITZGERALD – “DRUM MAMA SUE”
Percussionist, teacher, drum circle leader
Died April 2019 in Lansing, Michigan (after a brief illness)
SYLVIA MESERVEY
“Face the Music” feminist-radio host
Died November 2007 in Worcester, Massachusetts (unexpectedly after back surgery)
TERRI JEWELL
Poet, conference organizer, writer, HOT WIRE staff, black lesbian-feminist-womanist activist
Died November 1995 in Berlin, Michigan (murder? suicide? no consensus)
TESS WISEHEART (Barbara Zeek)
Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival staff, Aradia lesbian organization in Grand Rapids
Died December 2018 in Portland, Oregon (cancer)
THERESE EDELL
Singer-songwriter, sound engineer, “Voice of Michigan” emcee, composer
Died March 2011 in Cincinnati, Ohio (multiple sclerosis)
TONI ARMSTRONG SR. (Antoinette)
Early-years “festival mom,” HOT WIRE volunteer, co-host of West Coast Women’s Music & Comedy Fest “Amazon Clubhouse”
Died December 2012 in Riviera Beach, Florida (natural causes at age 87)
URVASHI VAID
LGBT national activist, attorney, author, Kate Clinton’s long-time partner
Died 2022 in New York City (cancer)
VIRGINIA GIORDANO
New York City women’s music record distributor, concert producer, artist
Died January 2015 in San Francisco, California (pancreatic cancer)
WAHRU CLEVELAND (Barbara)
Percussionist, teacher, National Women’s Music Festival drumming director
Died November 2022 in Columbus, Ohio (ruptured aorta/cardiac event)
WANDA HENSON
Producer of Gulf Coast Women’s Festival and SisterSpirit
Died May 2025 in Mississippi? (cancer)
YVONNE ZIPTER
Co-founder of HOT WIRE magazine, co-creator of the Women Writers Conferences at National Women’s Music Festival, poet, author
Died February 2025 in Chicago (cancer)
There are gaps in what we know about the passing of some of these women. If you know more, or find errors, please send details to toniajr@icloud.com or tonijr@hotwirejournal.com